The Astuvansalmi rock paintings are located in Ristiina

Ristiina

Ristiina is a municipality of Finland. It was founded in 1649 and it was named after Kristina Stenbock, the wife of Governor General and Count Per Brahe....

, Southern Savonia

Southern Savonia

Southern Savonia is a region in the south-east of Finland. It borders to the regions Northern Savonia, North Karelia, South Karelia, Kymenlaakso, Päijänne Tavastia, and Central Finland...

, Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 at the shores of the lake Yövesi, which is a part of the large lake Saimaa

Saimaa

Saimaa is a lake in southeastern Finland. At approximately , it is the largest lake in Finland, and the fourth largest in Europe. It was formed by glacial melting at the end of the Ice Age. Major towns on the lakeshore include Lappeenranta, Imatra, Savonlinna, Mikkeli, Varkaus, and Joensuu. The...

. The rock paintings are the largest found in the whole of Scandinavia. They consist of 65 paintings.

The rock paintings were officially found by the Finnish archaeologist Pekka Sarvas in 1968, though locals knew about them already before that.

Astuvansalmi site

The rock where the paintings are located looks like a human head when looked from a certain direction. The form is clearly visible during wintertime while viewed from the ice of the lake. The rock has presumably been some kind of a cult or ceremony site.
The paintings are nowadays 7,7 to 11,8 metres above the water-level of lake Saimaa

Saimaa

Saimaa is a lake in southeastern Finland. At approximately , it is the largest lake in Finland, and the fourth largest in Europe. It was formed by glacial melting at the end of the Ice Age. Major towns on the lakeshore include Lappeenranta, Imatra, Savonlinna, Mikkeli, Varkaus, and Joensuu. The...

. The lake level was much higher during the making of the rock paintings.

The oldest paintings are made 3000 - 2500 BC. They are located at the highest level (about 11 metres). The water level changed very fast about 2,5 metres with the landslide of Vuoksi. Later on the level slowly went down 8 metres to its present level. All the later paintings have been made from boats during the different historical water-levels.

The motifs

The Astuvansalmi rock paintings contain the following pictures: 18–20 elk, about as many human figures, tens of hands and animal tracks, 8–9 boats, geometrical figures and pictures that are thought to show a fish and a dog.

The paintings could have a link to the Siberian and North European shamanistic tradition, where sun was thought to be a deer or an elk running through the sky. Also the Lapps (or Sami people

Sami people

The Sami people, also spelled Sámi, or Saami, are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Kola Peninsula of Russia, and the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. The Sámi are Europe’s northernmost...

) have had their beliefs of the sun as a running Cosmic Sun-Reindeer. The people in the paintings were the shamans, who had a contact with the spirit world through trance with their drumming and songs. Shamanism

Shamanism

Shamanism is an anthropological term referencing a range of beliefs and practices regarding communication with the spiritual world. To quote Eliade: "A first definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be: shamanism = technique of ecstasy." Shamanism encompasses the...

 is the oldest cultural tradition of Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 and the North. It has been actively present already in the Paleolithic age.

The elk

Elk

The Elk is the large deer, also called Cervus canadensis or wapiti, of North America and eastern Asia.Elk may also refer to:Other antlered mammals:...

 has traditionally been a very important prey for the people of the north. The elk has also meant the Center of the Universe. Some of the eighteen elk of Astuvansalmi have dots on their heart. All except one is looking towards west. Some are moving and some are standing.

The sun, the symbol of life rises from the east. That was the home of the Big Elk and all the Good Spirits and Gods. The west was the symbol of the Land of Death where the dead were going with their elk-headed boats.

The boat was a very important way of transport in the lake regions of prehistoric Finland. Big boats of skin and wood were already being made already before the Vikings started making their big ships. The boats were quite similar to the North American Indian models.

The human figures are both shamans and spirits, who are connected with hunting ceremonies. The human figures could also have meant the people who drew them. The rare woman figure holding a bow in her hand is thought to show the mythic "Tellervo", a goddess from the Kalevala

Kalevala

The Kalevala is a 19th century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Finnish and Karelian oral folklore and mythology.It is regarded as the national epic of Finland and is one of the most significant works of Finnish literature...

 mythology, who is thought to be the progenitor of the human race. The women never usually took part in the hunting, that is why she is thought to be of a more divine nature.

Other archeological artefacts have also been found on the site at the bottom of the lake. Among them small amber statuettes of old gods (Ukko

Ukko

In Finnish mythology, Ukko, in Estonian mythology Uku, is a god of sky, weather, crops and other natural things. He is the most significant god in Finnish and Estonian mythologies, and created the goddess Ilmatar, creator of the world. The Finnish word ukkonen, thunderstorm, is derived from his...

 and Akka). Some animal jewellery were also found, one showing a bear head. The jewellery and statuettes refer to some religious ceremonies held on the site.

Also some arrowheads have been found which are dated to 2200-1800 BC and 1300-500 BC.

Some stone age settlements from about 3300-2800 BC. have also been found nearby Astuvansalmi in Heiniemi.

Finnish references

• Juha Pentikäinen: Astuvansalmi rituaalipaikkana
• Astuvansalmen kalliomaalaukset

External links